I did a track day today here in south Louisiana. The temps were in the mid-90's and sunny. By the third session, I had to come off a couple laps early, in part because I was being slow roasted in my non-perf leathers. ;D
I love my leathers - they're an '08 Corse 1-piece that I got a great price on from another member. I asked around to see if anyone knew someone experienced with work on riding leathers, wanting to see if I could get mine perforated. One person stated that they wouldn't recommend altering my leathers that way, as the strength would be compromised. He said that, when a manufacturer plans to perf a suit, they use thicker leather to maintain integrity. I've never heard that before. Opinions? Advice? Think I can get away with having my current suit perforated? I'd hate to have to buy a 2nd suit, but it gets pretty damn hot down here.
Thanks.
Quote from: swampduc on June 28, 2009, 05:36:10 PM
I did a track day today here in south Louisiana. The temps were in the mid-90's and sunny. By the third session, I had to come off a couple laps early, in part because I was being slow roasted in my non-perf leathers. ;D
I love my leathers - they're an '08 Corse 1-piece that I got a great price on from another member. I asked around to see if anyone knew someone experienced with work on riding leathers, wanting to see if I could get mine perforated. One person stated that they wouldn't recommend altering my leathers that way, as the strength would be compromised. He said that, when a manufacturer plans to perf a suit, they use thicker leather to maintain integrity. I've never heard that before. Opinions? Advice? Think I can get away with having my current suit perforated? I'd hate to have to buy a 2nd suit, but it gets pretty damn hot down here.
Thanks.
The only advice I can give you:
Start shopping. Ducati.ms has some pretty good deals on their gear for sale section.
The only time I've heard of someone perfing a non-perf was a vanson suit that a member here named Ash got. He was not to pleased with the result.
IIRC he had ordered a perfed suit and since they did not have any in stock, they perfed a regular one. The result was that the holes were bigger and further apart than the normal perforation and it did not work so well. I seem to remember that the leather was a different thickness so they could only have a certain amount of holes per square inch. Apparently, the leathers ended up looking like crap and the functionality was questionable at best
the thought has crossed my mind on very hot days concerning my sidi vertigo corsas. (hole punch and a hammer?)
anyways as el matador said, i figured it would be impossible to make look nice
id sell it and get a perfed one. why did you get a non perfed suit? i didnt even know people made those!
Quote from: He Man on June 29, 2009, 11:44:58 AM
id sell it and get a perfed one. why did you get a non perfed suit? i didnt even know people made those!
[laugh]
Got a really good price on it. It was great at Deal's Gap in early May, and at a track day in April. It just isn't so great now :-\
Quote from: He Man on June 29, 2009, 11:44:58 AM
id sell it and get a perfed one. why did you get a non perfed suit? i didnt even know people made those!
Non-perfed is for people like me...when it gets up to 100 degrees, like this weekend, I take the lining out of my jacket.
[cheeky]
Ahem...
Might I recommend:
(http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabelas/s7_215603_imageset_01?$main-Large$)
Note: do not try to perf leathers while wearing them.
Quote from: Obsessed? on June 30, 2009, 06:25:11 AM
Ahem...
Might I recommend:
(http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabelas/s7_215603_imageset_01?$main-Large$)
Note: do not try to perf leathers while wearing them.
Don't worry, I'll wear a helmet [cheeky]
Places like Newenough, motocycle closeout, etc, run sales all the time. You might consider a 2-piece suit with perf jacket and non-perf pants...the pants can be worn all year and the jacket is great for warmer weather.
BTW - where in so la?
Quote from: somegirl on June 29, 2009, 08:54:48 PM
Non-perfed is for people like me...when it gets up to 100 degrees, like this weekend, I take the lining out of my jacket.
[cheeky]
its a 1 piece track suit though. and dman 100 degrees to remove the lining? my linging is out by the 50s.
B had his suit perf'd by Syed Leathers (http://www.syedleathers.com/) in FL.
I believe it was $200.00.
It turned out well.
My custom suit is also from them, as well.
Good workmanship, so-so customer service.
PM me for more info.
Quote from: OT on June 30, 2009, 05:12:22 PM
Places like Newenough, motocycle closeout, etc, run sales all the time. You might consider a 2-piece suit with perf jacket and non-perf pants...the pants can be worn all year and the jacket is great for warmer weather.
BTW - where in so la?
I live in Houma, a little over an hour southwest of New Orleans. Lived in NOLA before Katrina, and BR after for a couple years.
Thanks for the info, DD - pm incoming!
take a look at some of the stuff you can wear under the leather that cools you. we wore some stuff recently on a trip and it was like wearing airconditioning. AND anything under 80 degrees it was COLD. we got it at a BMW store.
Well, I ended up getting a set of perf'd leathers from Pedro-bot. They are working out well. I tried a cooling vest from Cyclegear; it helped some but only for an hour (this was in 100+ temps). I couldn't fit my back protector with the vest on, so I only wore it for a day or two. Now I just gotta decide whether to keep the Corse (non-perf) leathers - they're just so damn nice!
What were you wearing for cooling, Raux?
Quote from: swampduc on July 13, 2009, 04:45:11 PM
Well, I ended up getting a set of perf'd leathers from Pedro-bot. They are working out well. I tried a cooling vest from Cyclegear; it helped some but only for an hour (this was in 100+ temps). I couldn't fit my back protector with the vest on, so I only wore it for a day or two. Now I just gotta decide whether to keep the Corse (non-perf) leathers - they're just so damn nice!
What were you wearing for cooling, Raux?
the stuff is made of Polyamide. here's something similar
https://441.bmw-riders-gear.com/BMWRA_products.asp?page=3&mm=By+Function&c=Touring&sc=Underwear&m=MC-Riders&r1=&md=&a1=ON&d1=ON&i1=ON&p1=1&p2=12&s1=72607704690-BMW&bplo=&bphi=&printpg=1
Depending on how it's made, you can perf it and made it look good. It takes alot of time and patience. I have an Alpinestars TZ-1. Only place it is perfed as stock is the white panels on the upper front.
(http://phardy.indbelt.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=136008&g2_serialNumber=2)
I couldn't find anything that I liked as already perfed, so I bought another. I did a simple grid pattern. I used a piece of perf aluminum and marked the jacket w/ a fine wet erase marked. Then used that pattern for the hole punch.
(http://phardy.indbelt.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=136012&g2_serialNumber=2)
don't forget the back
(http://phardy.indbelt.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=136015&g2_serialNumber=2)
I did the front, back, arms, and underarms. This is the jacket I wear most often now that it's done. I'll wear it till about 90 degrees F. It's still fine while riding, but stuck in traffic... then it's just another leather jacket, and hot.
bigger versions of the pics here (http://phardy.indbelt.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=136005)
That came out well - better than some of the professionally perforated ones I've seen.
Thanks. Time and patience (not something I always have). This took me about an hour a night (all my hands could take) for probably 3-5 nights. When I got tired, I'd quit so I didn't screw it up.
I've heard some good things about the work done by Barnacle Bill's (http://www.racingleather.com/), but no personal experience w/ them. I think I heard about someone getting them to perf their existing leathers.
Quote from: scoprire on July 26, 2009, 07:11:09 AM
Thanks. Time and patience (not something I always have). This took me about an hour a night (all my hands could take) for probably 3-5 nights. When I got tired, I'd quit so I didn't screw it up.
I've heard some good things about the work done by Barnacle Bill's (http://www.racingleather.com/), but no personal experience w/ them. I think I heard about someone getting them to perf their existing leathers.
What did you use to actually make the holes?
I went to a Tandy leather store and got a hollow punch made for leather. I used a block of UHMW (plastic) on the inside of the jacket. One light tap of a nylon faced mallet on the punch to indent the leather (so the punch didn't slide around) then a good tap or 2 to actually make the hole. I used a piece of AL like this
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515nbheAPBL._AA280_.jpg)
To mark my pattern. I clamped it to the jacket using spring clamps so it wouldn't knock it out of position and marked all the holes at once. I used it since you can get it in different hole patterns and sizes. A fine point marker worked well to mark the hole in the grid. Remove the grid, set the punch on the dot and then punch it.
After a couple of nights doing this, I was questioning what I'd gotten into. It took awhile, but I'm happy w/ the results. If you've got some high $$ leathers, you might want to practice on a scrap piece of leather to see how it behaves 1st. I got this jacket on ebay, so I just jumped right in.
I used a smaller punched hole than what was in the white part of the jacket. I could have probably gone to the bigger hole w/o a problem, but I didn't want to weaken the leather too much.